1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of integrated circuits. More specifically, the present invention relates to the provision of multi-channel data transfer services and a boot architecture using a DMA in a subsystem of a system on a chip (SOC) design.
2. Background Information
Advances in integrated circuit technology have led to the birth and proliferation of a wide variety of integrated circuits, including but not limited to application specific integrated circuits, micro-controllers, digital signal processors, general purpose microprocessors, and network processors. Recent advances have also led to the birth of what is known as “system on a chip” or SOC. In these designs, frequently they are composed of multiple smaller designs combined to form a complex SOC design.
In the operation of these smaller designs, or subsystems, a subsystem processor will be responsible for the function of the subsystem. Such a subsystem processor will typically have in its address space instructions to operate the subsystem processor. During the initialization process of a subsystem in a SOC, frequently it is desirable to have a system level processor provide the instructions that operate the subsystem processor. The provision of the instructions to operate the subsystem processor should be done in as efficient a manner as possible.
Frequently today's SOC designs comprise subsystems that are transferring data that must be delivered in a time sensitive manner. Examples of such time sensitive data include voice and video data. In the processing of such data, frequently Direct Memory Access (DMA) devices are used to relieve the subsystem processor of the data transfer task. In designing such a subsystem, the design of such DMA devices should be done in as efficient a manner as possible.
Thus, any architectural improvement to the subsystem to increase efficiency of such provision is desirable.